


Jesse & Lake: Superior to Callum x Rayla?

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon), The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Cross-Comparison, Cross-Posted on Pillowfort, Gen, Mentioned Ezran, Meta, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27759373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Covers the similar interaction patterns and character arcs between Callum and Rayla of The Dragon Prince and Jesse and M.T/Lake of Infinity Train.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Jesse Cosay & Lake | Mirror Tulip
Kudos: 8





	Jesse & Lake: Superior to Callum x Rayla?

1\. Introduction

Infinity Train and The Dragon Prince, despite their very different lengths, have a lot of similarities. The human male lead travels through an unfamiliar and even dangerous land with a female humanoid, the human male lead cares deeply about his little brother, there’s an animal companion(s) that can’t talk, and there’s both scary and ligthhearted moments. Even their relationship arcs of their teen leads are similar. The relational character arcs of Callum to Rayla in The Dragon Prince* and Jesse Cosay with Lake (initially called M.T.) progress from hostility/aggressive disinterest to chummy behavior of smiling, self-disclosure, and physical affection.

And yet...The Dragon Prince ends up pairing Callum and Rayla, while Infinity Train does not.

## 2\. Shipping Fuel

The relationships between the shows’ main teen characters are triply inclined to “ships”. Apparently, ships commonly arise when characters have strong emotions with or about each other, whether it’s positive or negative. When the characters have some degree of physical intimacy (e.g., hugging, sleeping next to or on each other), and interpersonal vulnerability (e.g., disclosing their insecurities or backstories to each other), it’s even more likely a “ship” will develop, whether in canon or in fan works. Adding onto it is the long history of media pairing up male and female lead characters by the end, especially if they’re on friendly terms, leading to viewers’ cultural expectations.

(For the sake of brevity, only the strongest or most obvious specific instances of would-be shipping fuel for each series will be covered.)

## 3\. Specific Instances: The Dragon Prince

Initially (“What is Done”, episode 2, season 1) Rayla is hostile to Ezran and Callum, given she is an assassin ordered to kill Prince Ezran who believes Callum to be Ezran. When she learns the egg of the dragon prince wasn’t destroyed (a big part of the reason assassins went to kill Prince Ezran), she loses her motive and hostility. (“Moonrise”, episode 3).For most of the third episode, Callum only sticks with her because his little brother trusts her and he apparently wants to accompany his brother. However, by the episode’s end, he commits to going along with her and Ezran to where the dragon egg came from and returning it to its mother. On their quest, Rayla becomes friendlier, and more overtly physical or outright affectionate with Callum. 

In “Breathe” (Season 2, episode 9), Callum must fight off the effects of performing Dark Magic, which resembles being deathly ill. Rayla is hugging him and pleading him to stay with her, and is crying. When Callum suddenly recovers, she sits back and reverses the intensified physical presence, playing it off in a casual (if still definitely chummy) way.

In “The Midnight Desert”, one character suggests Rayla and Callum are a couple, and likely does this just to see them squirm. There’s a sequence in which Callum tries to comfort Rayla in her troubled sleep and sadness. As Callum encourages Rayla out of her funk, the music playing in the background is somehow similar to The Lion King’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”. Callum gets closer to her with several compliments, including on her beauty, and they kiss. Although Rayla aggressively states they must never mention it again, the romance (unfortunately) develops further.

In “The Final Battle”, there’s a dramatic sequence where Rayla tackles a bad guy off a mountain and falls to her death, Callum jumps after her. He initially is unsuccessful casting his arms-to-wings spell, as previously in the episode. Only after a romantic moment and a heartfelt “Rayla, I love you” does he manage to sprout wings and save Rayla, and they kiss. 

## 4\. Specific Instances: Infinity Train

When Lake meets Jesse (“The Black Market Car”, episode 1), she shouts at him, destroys his sunglasses, and is repeatedly aggressive, argumentative, and insulting. Even when it's established they're friends with the same superpowered deer, she refuses to be friends by association and tries to leave. When they’re in a situation where fighting with each other would cause them to be trapped by an enormous tree of petty conflict (“The Family Tree Car”, episode 2), they quickly act exaggeratedly friendly, polite, and complimentary towards each other. When they’re no longer in danger, they ride the antlers of the superpowered deer up the tree (necessarily sitting very close to each other) and Lake makes a (half-hearted) apology for yelling at him earlier.

They get much friendlier over time, as Jesse and Lake spend a lot of time physically close to each other and touching, whether it’s a hand on the shoulder, hugging, holding hands while running or just shoving.

He stands up to the Apex when they want to kill Lake in “The Mall Car”, and his number goes down to 0 and he tries bringing Lake back home when his exit appears while they’re chased by the Flecs. However, he is unable to take Lake along, and desperately holds hands with her as his body is sucked away to his destination.

Both Jesse and Callum do something impossible to save the girl in their shows or segments’ final episodes (at time of writing). In “The Number Car”, though Jesse’s number is 0 and he was sent home, he’s still “in processing”. Evidently, his sheer emotional distress of leaving without Lake was so great the Train re-appeared to him. When Lake finds out Jesse’s emotional distress or trauma at being forced to leave Lake was so great he got back on the train, she smiles (lovingly, one could say). When Jesse wakes up in a pool of water after his memories are played for everyone to see, they hold hands and hug and smile. 

## 5\. Jesse and Lake Don’t End up Together!?

For all the manner, frequency, and intensity of their friendliness and physical affection that could be used to predict they’ll end up romantically paired in the end, it still stays a friendship. Refreshingly, it stays a friendship despite very strong “shipping clues”. For example, while climbing down The Family Tree, Jesse has to grab her by the waist while complimenting her on how shiny she is, and Lake grimaces. (And this is only the second episode they’re together!) Furthermore, when Jesse is laying unconscious in a pool of water and Lake is smiling at him, one might believe the situation is ripe for a Sleeping Beauty-style wakeup with a kiss...and it doesn’t happen. And although the manner in which Lake climbs over Jesse’s torso to wake him up with a painful flick to the forehead in the same episode might be lingered upon as romantic (or...steamy) in other shows, it’s not here. M.T. even blushes around Jesse a few times, and it’s still doesn’t end up a romance!

Even more shockingly, one might think the characters ship the two together. Perry, a body-controlling parasite takes over their deer companion Alan Dracula in one episode, and illustrates how much Alan Dracula loves Lake and Jesse by showing them perched together on Alan Dracula’s antlers with an outline of a heart. It’s easy to take this out of context and suppose either Alan Dracula or the parasite were “shipping” Lake and Jesse. 

An antagonist, Mace (a “Flec”: a violent enforcer of mirror law) calls Jesse Lake’s “boyfriend” and believes Lake might want to go to prom; one could assume he thought Lake wanted to go to prom with Jesse. Although Lake answers Mace’s mention of prom by asserting she and Jesse are friends, without explicitly refuting his romantic insinuations in a flustered way people may have used as shipping fuel, shippers might ignore her word choice or simply expect the season to end with a kiss anyway.

Furthermore, the conclusions of one important person who doesn’t ship them, One-One, can be easily waved away. In contrast to Mace, after Jesse wakes up and they’re happy (and physically affectionate) with their reuniting, one character, One-One, says: “This train [the Infinity Train] is for fixing problems, not for hang time with buds." Although One-One characterizes M.T and Jesse as friends, given he is a robot with little understanding of human norms and relationships, it’s easy to disregard him as mistaken and go with romantic interpretations.

## 6\. Why Is Jessie & Lake Better? 

Jesse & Lake is better than Rayllum for two reasons.  
Firstly, it doesn’t go into a well-trod, cliché turn. For all the “hints” it drops, all the scenarios one might find in a “shippy” fanfiction, and even how some characters seem to portray them in a romantic relationship, it doesn’t turn into a romance.  
Secondly, it provides representation for male-female friendship, showing it as something valuable in itself and not valuable only as a transitional state for romance. Of the examples from comparable shows the author can recall, such a relationship is hard to find among lead characters, and that Jesse and Lake can be so physically affectionate to each other without it ever becoming a romance makes it especially striking. 

So many kids’ cartoons, including ones with comparable tones and styles, end up pairing the lead(s) romantically at some point. It’s almost inevitable: some shows even put undue focus on the romance to the exclusion of what brought people to the show in the first place. Infinity Train choosing something different showcases its bold, creative, polished storywriting and characterization, marking it as exceptional even among the excellent cartoons of the 2010s. 

**Author's Note:**

> The author enjoys comments. Feel free to comment, either here or on the author's [Tumblr](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/) or [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/1888295).


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